The subject invention relates to artist's equipment, in general, and to an improved collapsible water color palette, in particular.
Heretofore, water color artists have customarily experienced difficulties when transporting their palettes and supplies to work, the classroom and other indoor and outdoor locations where they desire to paint. The traditional water color palette is inherently cumbersome having a relatively large inner mixing area surrounded by a plurality of receptacles for storage of different colored paints. Their large planer shape makes them difficult to manage while in motor vehicles, for instance, or when walking from one location to another. Additionally, they are often difficult to balance on irregular surfaces such as are frequently encountered in outdoor painting situations. Moreover, left uncovered, water color palettes have a propensity to soil or stain clothes and other materials with which they come in contact.
An additional shortcoming associated with the conventional water color palette is that excess water and wet, runny paints must be removed from the mixing surface before transport to avoid spilling over into fresh paint receptacles and contaminating their contents. In some cases, the artist may prefer to allow a particular color combination to dry on the mixing surface for later use by simply rewetting the mixture when work on the piece is resumed. This practice, of course, is impracticable with uncovered palettes.
Although it is clear that a significant need exists for a solution to the above shortcomings and limitations of the conventional water color palette, little progress has been achieved to date in providing a comprehensive solution to all its problems. While some efforts have been made to provide compact paint holders and palettes suitable for travel, none of these inventions teach a unitary structure capable of accomplishing both purposes efficiently. One example of such inventions is U.S. Pat. No. 3,352,616, issued Nov. 14, 1967 to Linger, which teaches an artist's palette adapted to receive materials thereon, and a separate case adapted to receive the palette for use, storage and transportation purposes.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,589, also issued to Linger on Mar. 21, 1972, teaches a combination artist's palette and separate carrying case. In addition to the disadvantage of having multiple components, neither of the Linger inventions are of reduced bulk employing instead, conventional sized planar palettes. Moreover, the Linger devices are designed to be inverted 90 degrees when carried and, therefore, are not suitably adapted to prevent internal spillage of wet paints or contamination of individual paint receptacles.
Another earlier invention, U.S. Pat. No. 3,186,539, issued Jun. 1, 1965 to Sims, teaches an allegedly compact palette including a container formed as an integral part of the device and containing a plurality of cups for receiving paint stock. Again, the Sims palette is of conventional planar design and cannot realistically be considered compact. Furthermore, the palette remains uncovered at all times and must be cleaned after each use for transport.
Finally, an even earlier U.S. Pat. No. 2,718,447, was issued to Wright on Sep. 20, 1955 which teaches an artist's folding kit box and working surface. While the Wright patent does not include a water color palette of any sort, the unique folding design capable of forming a compact carrying case for transport of paint containers and other materials was a considerable advancement.
The subject invention completely obviates all of the shortcomings of the above described prior art by providing an artist's water color palette capable of reduction to a compact storage and travel configuration, and further capable of preventing paint stock from spilling both from the palette, as well as into individual paint receptacles within the device.